Chapter 6: King of Dates

"It's him!" Wang Yao found that the man taking the lead was the one who came to buy dates this morning.

"Hi, can I have 5 kilograms of dates please," the man asked.

"How many?" said Wang Yao.

"5 kilograms please!" he took the money out as he was speaking.

The other three passengers also bought 5 kilograms of dates. As soon as they left, another vehicle came along. Several people came off, looked around, and then walked towards Wang Yao.

"This is exactly what I want!" one of them said, "I also want 5 kilograms of dates please."

Some of them bought 5 kilograms while the others bought 2.5 kilograms. Soon enough, half of the dates in the bag had been bought up.

After those people had left, there came more groups of buyers. In less than two hours, Wang Yao had sold nearly all the dates he brought and made over 1000 Yuan.

"Hey, these dates are for you," Wang Yao said as he gave what was left in the bag to the vendor next to him.

"You are too kind to give me these dates for free." The vendor thanked Wang Yao.

"No worries, please take them. I have to go now, but I'll return tomorrow," Wang Yao said.

"That's fine."

"Hello young man, are you selling dates?" asked a middle-aged woman walking towards him.

"I'm sorry. All the dates were sold out. But I will come back tomorrow with some more," Wang Yao said.

"Oh, well, I'll see you tomorrow then." The woman looked disappointed, "Bring some more tomorrow," she added.

Wang Yao drove his motorbike back to the village and went straight up to the hill without returning home. He picked about 100 kilograms of dates from the tree and filled two big bags. There were still some left on the tree.

"Holy crap! There are so many of them!" Wang Yao was thrilled.

He was so surprised by the output of dates. He didn't expect one jujube tree to be able to grow so many dates. Wang Yao gave all the money he earned today to his mother after he went back home.

"Where did this money come from?" Zhang Xiuying was in shock.

"From selling the dates," Wang Yao smiled. He had been asking for money from his parents regularly in the last 3 years and this was the first time he brought money home. He even felt a bit embarrassed.

"How much did you sell to earn over 1000 Yuan?" Zhang Xiuying asked.

"I sold over 50 kilograms and I charged 30 yuan per kilogram," Wang Yao stuffed a bun into his mouth. He hadn't had time to eat anything after a busy day.

"What!? 30 yuan per kilogram? Are you kidding? I can't imagine anyone would pay that much for dates," Zhang Xiuying exclaimed. Although she reckoned the dates tasted good, 30 Yuan per kilogram was beyond her imagination.

"Of course there were people willing to buy. I sold all the dates within 2 hours. I plan to pick all the dates from the jujube trees in the next few days and sell them in the market," Wang Yao said.

The next day Wang Yao went to water the herbal field and made sure everything was in good order. He carried two full bags of dates from the hill and then drove them to town on his motorbike. He set himself up in the same spot as yesterday. The vendor next to him was the same guy from yesterday as well and he had already saved the spot for Wang Yao.

"Hey kid!" The man waved to Wang Yao.

"Morning!" Wang Yao

"Come here, let me help you." The vendor got up and helped Wang Yao take the two bags of dates off the motorbike.

As soon as Wang Yao had set everything up, an elderly woman came along. She took a look at the dates and then took one into her mouth.

"This is exactly what I have been looking for! I would like to buy 5 kilograms of these," she said.

"No problem, just a second," Wang Yao responded as he put a handful of dates on the scale.

As soon as the elderly woman left, a Volkswagen Passat drove by.

"Hello, I would like to buy 50 kilograms of these dates." A man jumped out the vehicle and took out his wallet without even tasting any of the dates.

"What?" Wang Yao thought he misheard the man.

"Wait a minute, I think I would like to buy the whole bag instead. Just let me know how much it is," the man said as he pointed at the bag.

"Ah!" Wang Yao was amazed.

That man must not care much for money! Wang Yao thought.

Wang Yao had to borrow the large scale from the vendor next to him to measure the bag—his own scale was just not enough. The bag of dates weighed 60.5 kilograms; Wang Yao made 1800 Yuan from it.

"Hey, where did you get these dates." The vendor who lent Wang Yao the scale couldn't help but ask.

Who wouldn't envy Wang Yao as he made nearly 2000 Yuan just within 20 minutes?

"I grew them myself," Wang Yao said.

"Oh, I see," the vendor never spoke a word again.

Inside the office of an organization, all the workers were eating the dates bought from Wang Yao. The shiny red dates made the whole office smell really nice.

"The dates taste so good!" one of the workers exclaimed.

"Exactly! These are the best dates I've ever had," added another worker.

"Thanks to Zhao," a third worker said.

"Of course! When I bought the dates the first time, I was shocked by the price. Luckily I tasted them before buying so that all of you didn't miss out on this divine food," Zhao said proudly.

"How do you think the seller grew these dates? I hope he didn't add any hormones into them," someone said.

"Oh no! I just bought some for a friend of mine! I heard someone bought the whole bag."

"That's possible," another worker added.

"Should we get them tested?" Zhao suggested.

Everyone in the office stopped eating. Nowadays, people cared more about their health than money, especially those who were in a good financial condition. One of them was especially cautious—his name was Lee. He took a small bag of dates to a laboratory for testing as he knew one of the scientists there.

The results came out quickly.

"What's the result? Did you detect any hormones in the dates?" Lee asked the laboratorian who tested the dates.

"Where did you get these dates?" The staff member asked out of curiosity.

"Why? Is there a problem with them?" Lee sounded a bit worried.

"Well, I did find something inside the dates. Something big!" The laboratorian nodded.

"Oh my god! Please don't scare me! I have already had over half a kilogram of them." Lee's face turned white.

"Half a kilogram? You wouldn't have any problem even if you had another 5 kilograms," the laboratorian said with a smile.

"You just said you found something in the dates?" Lee was confused.

"That's right! These dates are superb! I couldn't detect any hormones or pesticides. On the contrary, I found the level of nutrition, such as vitamins and amino acids, was twice more than the average," The laboratorian spoke excitingly.

"Wow!" Lee opened his eyes widely.

"Right, the dates you asked me to test contain more nutrients than any of the other dates on our records. They could be among the top 10, or even within national range. This is the king of dates!" the laboratorian exclaimed, "By the way, where did you buy them? How much did they cost? Could you bring some for me?"

"I paid 30 Yuan per kilogram for those dates. I bought them from a vendor," Lee responded.

"Just 30 Yuan? I would pay 100 Yuan for these dates. Hurry up, buy more before they are sold out," the laboratorian prompted Lee.

Lee went straight to Wang Yao's stall in no time and found that Wang Yao was packing up and ready to leave.

"Hello, are there any dates left?" Lee asked.

"Sorry, all sold out," Wang Yao said.

"Will you come back tomorrow?" Lee asked again.

"Sure," Wang Yao said.

"Could you please save, 10 kilograms—no wait—25 kilograms for me?" Lee requested.

"Well, I'll try but I can't guarantee," Wang Yao said with a smile.

A number of buyers had tried to reserve the dates before Lee's request. The dates sold out so fast that the vendors nearby were all shocked. In addition, two bags of dates were sold for nearly 4000 Yuan, which was the monthly income for some vendors. As a result, nearly all the vendors in the market came to ask Wang Yao where he got those dates.